Old Harbour break-in arrest, six-cop murder trial delay and House row top Jamaica developments

Friday's developments included an arrest after a break-in in Old Harbour, another pause in the long-running murder trial of six cops in Kingston, and a fresh parliamentary clash involving Opposition MP Nikisha Burchell.

Police said a 40-year-old bus conductor is in custody after an early-morning house break-in on Bullet Lane in Old Harbour, St Catherine, on July 1. Investigators said his identity is being withheld pending further enquiries. Reports are that about 5 a.m., a woman was awakened by screams from her eight-year-old daughter and later discovered that a ZTE cellphone, a power bank and a night light had been taken. Entry was reportedly forced through a rear door. Neighbours answered the alarm, and police said the man was caught with the stolen items before he could get away.

In Kingston, there was no sitting on Thursday in the Home Circuit Court murder trial of six cops after lead prosecutor Kathan Pike asked for time to get her affairs in order. The case is to resume on Monday. Defence attorney Hugh Wildman had also sought time on Wednesday to attend a Corporate Area Parish Court matter in Half-Way Tree, and defence lawyers were reportedly ready to continue when Pike later requested the delay. The officers are on trial over the January 12, 2013 shooting deaths of Matthew Lee, Ucliffe Dyer and Demark Allen on Aadia Drive in Barbecon, St Andrew. Prosecutors say police stopped a blue Mitsubishi Outlander, the men got out and challenged the officers in a gunfight, two illegal firearms were reportedly seized, and a fourth man escaped. The cops say they acted in self-defence. The accused are Sergeant Samroy Mutz, Corporal Donovan Fullerton, accountable Andrew Smith, Sheldon Richards, Orandy Rose and Richard Lynch. Fullerton is also charged with making a false statement to Indiccom. Wildman, John Jacobs and Alia Grant Copin represent the cops. On Wednesday, the sole witness, an investigator from the Independent Commission of Investigations, said he copied details from a book at Conson Police Station that a detective identified as the station diary, but he did not see any entry being made and could not verify its original source. He also said he could not recall seeing a commission officer at the 2013 scene, did not remember what time he arrived, took part in no question-and-answer session, and wrote only one statement in May this year after the trial had already begun.

The PNP, meanwhile, closed ranks around St James Southern MP Nikisha Burchell after criticism from government members over her conduct during Tuesday's sitting of the House of Representatives. The opposition said Speaker Juliet Hles refused to hear a procedural question from leader of opposition business Philip Pwell before directing that the matter be raised privately, and it also complained that a call for a division vote was not accepted, prompting desk-banging from opposition members. The party said Trelawny Southern MP Marisa Dal Rimple Filibbert accused Burchell of disrespecting the Speaker, while Kingston Western MP Desmond McKenzie warned her not to cross his path "or else," language the PNP described as threatening. St Mary Southeastern MP Christopher Brown backed Pwell's position that parliamentary rules must be applied fairly. The JLP rejected the opposition's account and said the PNP should behave more appropriately.